Taiwan Friendsgiving – 投稿者 Kristine

If anyone had told me a few years ago that my first “office Thanksgiving” would happen not in New York but in Taipei, I would’ve been in disbelief. I spent more than a decade in the States and had been working remotely for the longest time, so Thanksgiving to me had always belonged to friends’ apartments, school potlucks, and found-family gatherings — never a professional setting, and definitely never with a room full of Taiwanese colleagues. So when our Taiwan office decided to host a Thanksgiving get-together this year, it felt a little surreal, a little experimental, and, as it turned out, unexpectedly moving.

Maybe because this was a new concept for many of us, no one really knew what the “right” way to do it was — and that’s why it felt so genuine. Instead of a fancy restaurant or a buttoned-up formal dinner, people showed up with food that carried a piece of their own lives. Jessica brought her brownies, the kind that disappear from the table before you even realize you’ve had three. Ted arrived with shrimp soup that tasted like something slow-cooked on a quiet Sunday. Jack’s sister baked cookies for us, and somehow that small detail — a family member contributing to an office event — made everything feel softer around the edges. Jeff turned up with a tray of tamagoyaki, a Japanese rolled omelette he had made himself, which felt perfectly on brand for someone who once casually took second place in a darts competition after watching a single YouTube tutorial that morning. Riley’s mom helped prepare the marinated duck that kept people circling back to the table. And Bryan earned instant MVP status for bringing in his “secret” IKEA fried chicken (turns out there’s more to IKEA than just the meatballs). There was also Ben, the youngest on the team yet the one who somehow ended up ordering what felt like an entire restaurant’s worth of Korean BBQ chicken and taking care of all the unglamorous background chores that make chaotic feasts like this actually work. It wasn’t just a potluck; it was a collage of different homes and kitchens, quietly assembled on one table.

There were other small surprises that made the afternoon feel less like “work obligatory fun” and more like life simply spilling into the office. Lewis brought plum wine, and as the glasses slowly emptied, people started to loosen up in that gentle, unforced way. Conversations drifted from product roadmaps and deadlines to weekend rituals, favorite hangout spots, and the sports people commit to with almost alarming discipline. We discovered that Squid and Wei are our in-house marathon legends, and that Jeffery is not just a backend dev on the phone testing AI orders all day, but a serious mahjong master. At one point, Lewis’s daughter, Yumay, made a surprise appearance, and her presence subtly shifted the atmosphere. It was a reminder that behind every title, there’s a whole universe of roles we play outside of work.

What stayed with me the most, though, was how human everyone felt that day. We spend so many hours together in “hustle mode” that it’s easy to reduce each other to job descriptions and Linear tasks. But sitting in that room — passing plates, sharing stories, laughing about small things — I was reminded that everyone here carries passions, responsibilities, and quiet dreams that exist in multiple dimensions of their lives. Hearing people talk about the instruments they play, the sports they train for, and the places they retreat to on weekends made me see my colleagues not just as teammates, but as whole people who are constantly balancing the rest of their lives alongside their professional selves.

Thanksgiving, historically, is not a holiday we traditionally celebrate here, but stripped of its mythology, what we created that afternoon was something simple and sincere: a moment to pause, to gather, and to acknowledge one another beyond our roles. In that sense, a cozy potluck in the office with home-cooked dishes and shared stories felt far more meaningful than any meticulously curated fine-dining experience. A Michelin restaurant might impress, but it wouldn’t have given us the same sense of closeness and companionship.

As our Taiwan team continues to grow, the work we’re responsible for will only become deeper and broader. The challenges will increase, but so will the trust and expectations placed on us. That’s the nature of building something meaningful together. Events like this remind me that behind every product decision and late-night meeting is a group of people trying, in their own ways, to do good work and live full lives. It makes me want to meet those challenges with a little more patience, a little more understanding, and a little more gratitude for the people beside me.

I’m grateful to have experienced my first in-person office Thanksgiving here, in this particular time and place, with this particular group of people. Thank you to Lewis and his family for joining us, to everyone who cooked and carried dishes across town, and especially to Yiju for working behind the scenes to put everything together. If this gathering is any indication of where we’re headed, I hope we’ll keep building not just better products, but a stronger sense of “us” — stitched together by shared meals, honest conversations, and all the small celebrations along the way.

Happy Thanksgiving.

中文版 – Jeffery 譯

如果過去有人告訴我，我人生中的第一場辦公室感恩節不是在紐約，而是在台北，我一定覺得很荒謬。

我曾在美國工作與念書超過十年，對我而言，感恩節幾乎都是在朋友家、學校活動，或如家人般的親友聚餐中度過——卻從未在工作場合裡辦過，更別說是和一屋子的台灣人一起慶祝了！

所以，當台灣辦公室宣布今年要舉辦感恩節聚餐時，我總覺得有些不真實，彷彿是在夢裡才會出現的情節。

也許對我們台灣團隊來說，這是一個全新的概念，沒有人知道所謂「真正的」感恩節聚餐該怎麼舉行；也正因為如此，反而多了一份真誠與可愛。大家帶來的餐點並非高級餐廳那種華麗的料理，而是更像承載著各自生活記憶的家常滋味。

首先登場的是 Jessica 的布朗尼蛋糕——那實在太好吃了，好吃到你回過神來時，已經不知不覺吃下三塊。在這寒冷的秋日，熱湯是不可或缺的。Ted 精心準備了南瓜龍蝦湯，那濃郁的味道彷彿花了整整一個週末慢火熬煮而成。我幾乎能想像為了這鍋湯，有多少隻龍蝦奉獻了生命。不知怎麼回事，連團隊成員的家人都加入了。Jack 的妹妹特地烤了餅乾，這種家人的參與方式讓整個聚會更多了一層溫暖。

接著登場的是 Jeff 的玉子燒——毫不意外地好吃。畢竟這可是那位只看了一眼 YouTube 就能在飛鏢比賽拿下第二名的強者，完全符合他那種「我自己做！」的神人風格。Riley 的媽媽準備的烤鴨更是令人驚艷，美味得讓人忍不住想再來一份。Bryan 帶來了本次餐桌的 MVP：IKEA 的炸雞。（事實證明，IKEA 不是只會賣家具。）最後是我們最年輕的成員 Ben，他帶來了一大袋韓式炸雞——多到彷彿把整家店的庫存都買下來了。他同時也負責所有不起眼卻重要的後勤雜務；正因為有他，這場看似混亂的饗宴才能順利運作。

這不只是一場感恩節聚餐；那些擺在平日被鍵盤滑鼠所佔據辦公桌上的料理，更像是一幅來自於不同家庭共同拼貼而成的作品，悄悄訴說著工作與生活之間的交織。

還有許多不經意的小驚喜，讓那個午後完全不像是「不得不參加的」公司活動，反而像是大家的生活輕輕地融入了我們的感恩節聚餐。

Lewis 帶來了梅酒；當杯裡的酒少到不足以養金魚時，人們的話匣子也跟著徹底打開。原本的話題從產品規劃、上線時程，慢慢轉向週末的習慣活動、大家最愛的聚會場所，以及那些令人佩服其自律程度的運動日常。

這才讓我們發現，原來 Squid 和 Wei 是公司裡的馬拉松傳奇，而 Jeffery 不只是那位整天與電話裡的 AI 閒聊的後端工程師——他還是貨真價實的麻將高手。

中途，Lewis 的女兒 Yumay 意外現身，她的到來悄悄改變了整個氛圍。那一刻彷彿提醒著我們：在工作之外，我們每個人都還扮演著不同的角色。

真正令我印象最深的，是那一天每個人都如此像「真人」。

我們平日常在「衝刺模式」中一起度過無數小時，很容易把彼此簡化成通訊工具上的大頭貼、辦公桌前的身影或幾個英文字母組成的名字。但那天在同一個房間裡——傳遞餐盤、分享故事、為小事一起大笑——我重新意識到，每個人都帶著自己的熱情、責任，以及那些靜靜棲息於生活不同維度中的夢想。

聽著大家說起自己會彈奏的樂器、鍛鍊的運動、週末常去的地方，我看到的不再只是同事或隊友，而是那些在職涯之外，努力平衡生活其他部分的「完整的人」。

雖然感恩節並不是台灣的傳統節日，但撇除所有神話與典故，那個午後我們創造的是一段單純而真摯的時光：暫停片刻、聚在一起，並在工作角色之外真正看見彼此。某種程度上，比起任何精心設計的高級餐宴，那場在辦公室裡由家常菜與故事交織而成的一頓飯，更讓人覺得踏實而有意義。米其林餐廳或許令人驚艷，但它帶不來那種貼近與陪伴的溫度。

隨著台灣團隊持續成長，我們肩上的工作只會更深、更廣。挑戰會增加，加諸在我們身上的信任與期望也會提升。這正是一同打造有意義事物的本質。像這樣的活動提醒我，在每一次產品決策、每一場深夜會議的背後，都有一群以自己的方式努力做好工作、努力過好生活的人。而這樣的體悟讓我在面對挑戰時，願意多一些耐心、多一些理解，也多一些對身旁夥伴的感激。

我很感謝能在這裡、在此時此刻、與這群特別的人，共同度過我第一次在辦公室裡親身參與的感恩節。感謝 Lewis 和家人特地前來，感謝所有親自下廚、提著菜餚穿越半座城市的人，尤其感謝在幕後把一切串起來的 Yiju。

如果這次聚餐代表著我們前進的方向，我希望未來我們不只一起打造更好的產品，也能織出更強韌的「我們」——由共享的食物、真誠的對話，以及一路上那些微小卻珍貴的慶祝時刻共同編織而成。

Happy Thanksgiving.